Bush remarks

Bush spoke with Republican lawmakers regarding the NSA eavesdropping campaign in an effort to drum up support.

President Bush wanted to speak in private Friday to members of the House Republican Caucus at their retreat on Maryland's Eastern Shore. But someone forgot to turn off the audio feed to the White House press room several miles away.

Houston Chronicle

One has to wonder if the audio feed incident was truly an oversight or simply a matter of convenience.

Even though I am a self-professed Republican, and I do support President Bush on most issues (including the decision to invade Iraq), I immediately thought myself that this was a planned "accident." It's one thing for a politician to say the wrong thing and have it accidentally picked up on a live microphone... that has happened plenty of times in the past. But I think its next to impossible for something like this to happen without someone intentionally allowing it to.

Maybe it was the White House's way of showing the public that President Bush believes what he says to the American people, and that his motives are noble. I don't know if the American people will buy this as an accident, but from what I've seen of cable news programs so far today, the press sure is selling it as an accident.

Even if it were a planned accident, it isn't anything that he hasn't said in public a dozen times before. And when he said it was impossible to keep things close to the vest in Washington, he was right on the money. Loose lips happen to be one of my pet peeves.

Same thing happened to Ronald Reagan. He was getting ready for a press conference, and thought he was doing a sound check on the mic. Turned out it was being broadcast. What did he say? Something freakin' hilarious:

"My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you that I have signed legislation to outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

Whoops!

As hard as it may be to accept that Bush actually believes what he says, isn't it possible? Why immediately assume it was done intentionally or, as I've seen theorized on other boards, that he didn't trust the Republicans he was with, either? Finally, I'd like to close with some comments by Nancy Pelosi, as reported by Scott Ott.

“These journalists listened in on a private conversation among American citizens without a warrant and without any kind of accountability or oversight,” Rep. Pelosi said. “They could have jumped up and turned off the audio, or left the room, but instead they violated the right to privacy which forms the Constitutional basis for our most precious freedoms.”

The California Democrat said “this irresponsible, and possibly criminal, act has revealed something that we have tried for years to keep secret — that the president says what he means in public and in private.”

“This breach of privacy threatens the security of many in the homeland,” she added. “Especially those of us whose legislative careers depend on fostering doubts about the president’s honesty.”